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Homero Trevino

Dr. Kevin Lindberg

English 1302

4/14/22

Stereotyping of races in the media

In current day media, there is a great amount of ethnically diverse people. These

different races have all been affected by oppression in some way, shape, or form and even

stereotyping. Looking into the Hispanic, Asian, and African American communities and the

power they have on the media can help others take a stand on stereotyping. In shows and movies

like George Lopez, Black Panther, and Crazy Rich Asians all told the life of a different races.

With these shows, they can stop stereotyping which can be hurtful to these communities.

Hispanic community

In the Hispanic community, many different types of cultures fall into this: Mexicans,

Cubans, Salvadorans, and many other Spanish-speaking countries. One of the most famous

shows showing a Latino family is George Lopez. This was one of the first shows where a Latin

group were not seen as criminals, gang members, or drug dealers. "a stereotype can be classified

as a Freudian fetish—an idealized object that acts as a defense mechanism for the individual"

(Ramirez Berg, 1990). Some stereotypes are used to fetishizes a particular race. Most of the time

the people who play stereotypical Hispanics, who are mostly white actors, are sexualized to get a

higher rating on their shows. George Lopez was the one who wanted to create a show where a

Latin family was just like any other family. As Lopez was doing standup comedy in the 1990s,

he wanted a television show like Seinfeld. It was not until 2000, that Sandra Bullock saw one of
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his performances and was interested to make a show with him in it. "The George Lopez Show

was seen as an attempt from ABC to diversify their programming, while still appealing to the

widest possible audience.[9] ABC executives were hopeful that Lopez's humor and relatability

would draw a large family audience, focusing on marketing the series as much as possible." (The

Washington Post, 2002). The main point of this show was to show diversity to a community that

was seen in a negative light.

Many of the shows today depict the real-life some Hispanics face like On my Block, this

shows is about a Latino group of friends living in the dangers of south-Central Los Angeles. It

shows gang violence and the troubles they might get into. While other shows show them as a

lovable family-like One Day at a Time. This shows a Cuban family living in LA. In this show,

they talk about real issues that many Hispanic people face. For example, they talk about racism

and how they, people who are not white, must learn how to deal with people like them.

According to Variety "7% of films in 2019 feature a Hispanic co-lead character, 3.5% in the past

13 years, 5% were the lead, and only 6 Afro-Latinos worked as lead/co-lead in the 13-year time

frame". This explains that there is very little representation of Hispanic communities in

television shows or in movies that need to be higher than what it is. Many shows or movies is a

way for people, more importantly, kids, to relate to. If these kids, see someone who resembles

them in any type of way it will only have a positive effect on them. These kids will think that

since they look like them, they too can become successful and be just like their role model.

Representation can help inform people about their culture or way of life to get a better

understanding of how they live. Representation is only a stepping-stone to having more diverse

people in the media, although some representations do not show the way many people want them

to be seen. They need to be depicted as any other normal person that is not a typical drug dealer,
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gang lord, or criminal. Stereotyping a diverse group of people with out getting to know them can

be hurtful to them. With many shows and movies in the past depicting them as what others tell

them to be rather than what they want to be.

African American community

The African American community has suffered many hate crimes in these recent years

following the death of George Floyd and has only encouraged stereotyping. With people calling

them drug dealers, homewreckers, and many other hurtful things. "African American men are

perceived by stereotype as strong but intellectually dull: "dumb Black." (Hall, 2001). Most

African American men are seen as unintelligent and do not like to do work. However, one of the

most famous leading African American movies broke these stereotypes, Black Panther. This

movie was the first-ever one to shoe a black superhero as the leading actor. He took a stand and

did not portray African Americans as "aggressive, unintelligent, or lazy" (Taylor, Guy-Walls,

Wilkerson, & Addae, 2019). He portrayed Black Panther as any other hero, like Iron Man or

Spiderman.

With the growth of negative stereotypes causes even more backlash to these

communities. "The stereotype that African Americans lack a work ethic is crucial to

understanding opposition to welfare." (Van Doorn, 2015). This community faces racism that

other races have not felt to their extent. In most recent shows Black-ish shows an African

American family that is like any other family. They depict a nice and happy family unlike shows

in the past that show them in a way many people think they live. Like in the show Everybody

Hates Chris, shows a character that stereotypes the main character. She stereotypes him and says

a variety of things that only made it better to encourage hatred toward them. Other shows like
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Batwomen show a black female superhero that faces many issues that can be seen as helpful to

many black kids. They can see her and see that some of the struggles she faces can be

accomplished and can overcome any obstacle. Kids today need representation that shows that

any family no matter their background can be successful. Many of them learn is by seeing how

other people deal with life. If they depict them in a negative form, they will only grow to expect

how life will be. They will become closed-minded and not grow as a person. Negative

stereotyping is a disease that is normalized in our world, we tend to see a person and think of

who they are without getting to know that person. This needs to be stopped and shown that no

matter a person's background, they can be whoever they want to become. It is a person's actions

that define them, not their race. Since the death of Floyd and many other hurtful actions done to

this community only encouraged stereotyping for them. This hate crime is used to silence this

community and not get the recognition and justice they need. In many movies and shows they

were seen as gang leaders, drug dealers, and criminals and only gave them a bad reputation.

Which is why stereotyping has to be stopped, no one can know a persons full life story just by

looking at them but by getting to know that person.

Asian community

In recent years where Asian people have been stereotyped thanks to the Covid19

pandemic. They were seen as disease bringers and filled with overall hatred. Some of these

harmful assumptions include; if they know anyone with a certain last name, good at math, do you

eat dogs and other hurtful stereotypes. (TeenVogue). Many shows and movies denounce these,

like in Fresh of the Boat

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the nature of all stereotypes is that they dehumanize people and prevent us from seeing them in

their whole humanity,” (Abrams, 2019).

Conclusion

As seen only a few communities face many different types of stereotypes. Where

Hispanics and African Americans are seen as drug dealers or gang bangers whereas Asians are

seen as disease bringers. Some help from the media can help these communities overcome these

categorizations and reveal that they are not what other people say they are. Many shows and

movies like George Lopez, Black Panther, and Crazy Rich Asians all tell a story about a regular

normal family that just deals with life.

References:
Abrams, Zara. “Countering stereotypes about Asian Americans”. American Psychological

Association. December 1, 2019. https://www.apa.org/monitor/2019/12/countering-

stereotypes

Calvo, Dana. “George Lopez”. The Washington Post. April 14, 2002.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/tv/2002/04/14/george-

lopez/a227e5f2-ec9b-495c-9159-2549c6ca1c1b/

Charles Ramírez Berg (1990) Stereotyping in films in general and of the Hispanic in particular,

Howard Journal of Communications, 2:3, 286-300, DOI: 10.1080/10646179009359721

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Davis, Clayton. “New Study on Latinos in Leading Roles and Speaking Parts Offers Little to

Celebrate for Hispanic Heritage Month”. Variety. Sep. 15, 2021.

https://variety.com/2021/film/news/latino-study-hispanic-roles-hollywood-1235064878/

“Hispanics in the Media.” Films On Demand, Films Media Group, 1994,

fod.infobase.com/PortalPlaylists.aspx?wID=97984&xtid=7991. Accessed 12 Apr. 2022.

Hall, Ronald E. “The Ball curve: Calculated racis and the stereotypes of African American

men”. Sage Publications. Sep 2001. Issue 1. https://scholar.google.com/citations?

view_op=view_citation&hl=en&user=lfBeq7

8AAAAJ&citation_for_view=lfBeq78AAAAJ:isC4tDSrTZIC

Lee, Christa J. “10 Things Your Asian Friends Are Tired of Hearing”. TeenVogue. November

25, 2015. https://www.teenvogue.com/story/annoying-asian-stereotypes

Mendez, Lola. “Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month With These 30 Must-Stream Shows

Featuring Latinx Characters and Storylines”. Parade. Sept. 23, 2021.

https://parade.com/1062072/lolamendez/best-latinx-tv-shows/

Taylor, E., Guy-Walls, P., Wilkerson, P. et al. The Historical Perspectives of Stereotypes on

African-American Males. J. Hum. Rights Soc. Work 4, 213–225 (2019).

https://doi.org/10.1007/s41134-019-00096-y

Van Doorn, Bas W. “Pre- and Post-Welfare Reform Media Portrayals of Poverty in the

United States: The Continuing Importance of Race and Ethnicity”. Wiley Online

Library. Feb 15, 2015. Vol. 43, Issue 1.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/polp.12107
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